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By Matt Byrne, Town Correspondent

A Cambridge man pleaded guilty to a manslaughter charge Tuesday in Middlesex Superior Court in the August 2010 beating death of Brian Fahey of Weymouth.

Christopher Toppi, 29, of Cambridge, was sentenced to 15 to 18 years in state prison by Middlesex Superior Court Judge Diane Kottmyer, according to a statement by Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr.

On Aug. 28 about 3:30 a.m., Medford police responded to 382 Salem St. in Medford for a report of an unresponsive man.

Emergency personnel located Fahey, 28, in an upstairs bedroom bleeding from his head and nose. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Prosecutors said Toppi beat Fahey with a metal lock wrapped in a towel as he lay in bed with Toppi's ex-girlfriend.

Another man, Roger Beattie, 32, of Medford, who lived at the house where the beating took place, was indicted in February in connection with the case after prosecutors alleged he lied to a grand jury about phone calls he made to Toppi on the night of the murder.

Prosecutors say that Beattie phoned Toppi to tell him that his ex was in bed with another man: Fahey. Toppi went to the Medford house soon after and confronted Fahey.

Beattie is scheduled to stand trial for the perjury counts in January, according to the district attorney.